Gene regulation through transcription is a fundamental process common to all biological systems. Transcriptional regulation underlies critical aspects of cell behavior including proliferation and differentiation and is likely to drive key events during development. Defects in gene regulation have been linked to a wide variety of human diseases including cancer. This application requests funding for a summer FASEB conference on Transcriptional Regulation of Differentiation, Development and Disease. The intent of this conference is to bring together researchers engaged in studying a broad range of transcriptional processes using different methodologies and biological systems. The goal is to provide an in-depth view of this rapidly expanding field so that methodological and conceptual advances in specific areas can be rapidly disseminated and applied to new problems and systems. Each conference session groups together talks that focus on different approaches to key areas of transcription research. The sessions are designed to provide an overview of recent advances ranging from protein structure and fundamental mechanisms of basal and activated transcription to tissue specific transcription, development, and oncogenic transcription factors. The conference will underscore the important role that transcription regulation plays in normal differentiation and development and the manner in which aberrant gene expression in involved in the genesis of cancer and other diseases. Transcription control in vertebrate embryogenesis, in the development of muscle and blood, and in hormonal regulation will be particularly emphasized. The conference will be held at the University of California Santa Cruz campus from August 14-19 1994. The meeting will include formal talks, informal poster sessions, discussion periods and ample opportunity for interaction among the attending scientists. Attendees will include principal investigators, postdoctoral fellows and graduate students. The conference will provide an up-to-date and cost-effective overview of one of the most fundamental and rapidly moving fields in biology and is expected to generate new ideas and stratagems for further research.